Random Thoughts from Exodus.

Every day the health centre ladies do devotionals at 11am. They take turns reading from a Women's Devotional Bible and then we share requests for the youth, and pray together. Last week, I think it was Beth who read from Exodus 3 - Moses and the Burning Bush. As a child, I learned about Moses; he was a shepherd, and one day he saw a bush that was on fire, but wasn't being burnt up and consumed. Intrigued, he approached it, and God spoke to him from the bush, telling him to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Moses was all like, No way, God, I'm not good at public speaking, go ask Aaron to do it! And God's like, No, I want you to go do it. Moses puts up all these excuses, and God performs a couple miracles to assure Moses of the authority he's been given... And finally Moses goes to Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites. And then we get the whole part with the plagues - frogs, flies, locusts, darkness, etc - until Pharaoh relents and lets the Israelites go. Later, Pharaoh changes his mind and sends his army to chase them down, and that's when Moses does the parting of the Red Sea, and the Israelites are finally free! After that, they are stuck wandering around in the desert for 40 years until they get into Canaan, because they continually show their lack of faith in God to provide.

That's a very brief synopsis of what happens with Moses, and is not meant to trivialize all the powerful events that took place. I like reading from Exodus a lot, but definitely not more than my dad. My dad loves Exodus. Partly because I think he relates a lot to it. My father suffered and suffers from depression, so he often makes analogies of his life to the Israelites wandering in the desert. Living and dealing with someone with depression is difficult and often frustrating. Sometimes my dad won't want to do anything, or will attribute his lack of motivation or energy to depression. From my sister's and my point of view, it seemed like an excuse all the time. There was a period where my parents fought all the time, and I cried a lot, wondering if they would split up. The worst (I believe) of his illness has passed, so I thank God that he seems to have gained a lot more strength over the past year or two. I was very pleasantly surprised that he managed to be supportive of my potentially going to Chicago for optometry school. Even though he was very worried about the financial cost, he (and my mom and sister) went to check out the school with me for my interview, and helped me to pay the tuition deposit. My dad jokes a lot about wanting to retire, so I often ask him questions about where he wants to retire, or what he wants to do. I really hope that the end of the desert wandering will be over soon. I suppose handling depression may be a lifelong battle, but he's made a lot of progress in terms of recognizing his own need to trust in God. I can't wait to see what his Canaan is like.

Moses is one of those biblical poster heroes, just like Joseph and David and Samuel. In children's Sunday School, we always are taught that these people just listened to God and saved lots of people's lives, so we should be like them - faithful and courageous. I learned a different story last year, though, that my mother taught me. I think we had been talking about missions, and having a heart to serve and stuff. And I had said that, I don't think God ever tells us to do something we'd really hate. My example was that I don't want to live anywhere without electricity or running water, so I bet God would just somebody else who wants to do missions in rural areas and can handle the lifestyle. But my mom brought me back to this story, this example. Moses definitely did not want to go to Egypt to make a stand against Pharaoh, but God still chose him anyway. It's the same case with a number of other characters, like Gideon and Jonah. Lesson was: God chooses people. You might not like it, or want to do it... and you can try to make excuses, or even run away... but when God chooses you, you have to act. Not to say that I am going to do missions in a third world country now (or yet?), but it definitely opened up a new perspective for me. Between bouts of being really silly and really insane, my mother actually has pretty good insights to give.

Lastly, is the thought that struck me just last week during the devotional; this time the bush stuck out to me. At Evergreen they always encourage us to take care of ourselves foremost, because if we're all tired and crabby and stuff, we're not useful to anyone or to God. And as Beth was reading, I thought... I really wanna be that bush. All lit up and ablaze for God, and not being consumed, or burnt up (or burnt out, in my case). Intriguing people and drawing them nearer to God until He says to them, "Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." And I, the bush, would be rooted in that holy place.